Comment EI-24702
Received or sent (printed as 7/12/2016)
Regarding the Great Lakes Basin Rail Line being proposed to run from Indiana into Southern Wisconsin. I have read in literature that the main focus of this project is to reduce the time it takes a train to get from Indiana past Chicago. Noting this general assumption, I believe the Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis should take a hard look at ALL affects that this project might have, not only on the physical environment but also on the human environment. The proposal does note numerous intersections with roads will have overpasses / underpasses installed to alleviate delays. However, I believe the number of intersections without overpasses far outnumber the actual overpass/underpass intersections. For each one of these intersections there are several concerns. First of all there is the safety factor. As we all know, even with signs, gates and flashing lights, automobile accidents still happen. In addition, this rail line will be traveling through many farm fields. Some of these fields will be connected / owned by the same farmer and as such there will need for farm equipment to transvers the rail line. With farm equipment traveling at very slow speeds and the trains traveling at 50 – 70 mile per hour this greatly increases the probability of tragic accidents. This real line is specifically targeted for the rural area. These rural areas require school buses to transport students to school. This railroad greatly jeopardizes the safety of students riding those school buses on a daily basis. This rail line proposal will inadvertently result in many injuries and fatalities in the years to come if approved. Secondly, the board should weigh the benefit of time saved by the railroads vs. the time lost by individuals sitting at all the intersections blocked by passing trains. I firmly believe that if a good study is done of the amount of time that these intersections will be blocked, the calculation will show that the lost time of individuals will outweigh the time gained by the trains involved. Add to that the inconveniences imposed on the common citizen during the construction process and the project will clearly become questionable on this basis.
Submitted by: Bill Lloyd · Rock Against the Rail, member · JANESVILLE, WI
The Board publishes this comment in its environmental-comment table for this proceeding. It is quoted here as printed; nothing is inferred from it, and it states the commenter's own position in their own words, not this record's.
Permanent address docketyard.org/d/FD-35952/comment/EI-24702 · back to the docket sheet